Ammonia Fuming #1: Hardware Store 10% Ammonia

I have decided to try my hand at fuming wood with ammonia. I can’t find the stronger (25-30%) ammonia locally, so I went to the local hardware store and found a gallon of 10% ammonia.

I started by making some small cutoffs to test it out. I cut off a checked end of an African Mahogany board, A couple of pieces White Oak and some Cherry and Walnut.

I grabbed a rectangular plastic container and a small bowl to put the ammonia in. I took all of the pieces outside, arranged them and poured a small amount of ammonia (about 2 ounces) in the bowl.

I inverted the plastic container and put everything on the inside of the lid.

I checked it every few hours to see how it was going.

Anyway, I decided to take everything out after 21 hours and here are the results.

The pieces in the picture are arranged so that the unfumed pieces are on the left

From left to right: African Mahogany, White Oak, Cherry and Walnut ( a cutoff from a cutting board) and the last piece is Cherry.

I think I will definitely use this method in the future. I have to let them sit outside for several hours to lose the ammonia smell. I wanted to see how log it would take with a weaker ammonia. I will put a poly top coat on them to see what the finished product will look like. Thanks for looking. Maybe this will help someone that is sitting on the fence. I will try to add pictures after the poly goes on.

The great thing that I have found with this is that you almost can’t mess it up. The coloring is even on all sides. When you finish, you can reuse the ammonia that hasn’t evaporated. This makes it fairly cheap. Also, you will want to do this outside. Be careful even with this lower strength ammonia. It will take your breath away.